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Alcohol Intake Increases Breast Cancer Risk

It should come as no surprise that more and more research is shining a light on just how bad alcohol is for your body. In the latest large-scale study, more than 300,000 women collaborated with five Spanish universities to further examine the link between alcohol intake and an increased risk of breast cancer. The results? A woman’s risk for breast cancer quadruples for each daily glass of beer or wine she consumes.

Women in the study fell between the ages of 35 and 70 and hailed from 10 European countries. Over 11 years, the 300,000 volunteers monitored both their health and their daily alcoholic consumption. During the study, more than 11,500 of the volunteers were diagnosed with some form of breast cancer.

The amount of alcohol factored into the woman’s risk of breast cancer forming. Breast cancer risk increases by approximately 4 percent for each 10 grams of alcohol consumed per day. When a woman drinks plays a role in her risk factor as well. The study showed that the longer the woman drinks for, the more likely she is to develop breast cancer in the future. This is especially evident in women who began drinking prior to getting pregnant for the first time.

In a best-case scenario, a woman would avoid alcohol altogether to lower her cancer risk. However, if a woman does choose to drink, she should limit intake to two or less alcoholic beverages per week. A regular exercise routine and eating a healthy well-rounded diet is also beneficial to reducing the chances of having breast cancer.